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Keith Raniere’s Prison Mate Accused of NXIVM Documentary Scam

An “ardent supporter” of Raniere is said to have wired $500,000 to the fraudulent filmmaker, hoping to see the cult on the big screen.

A former fellow inmate of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere has been hit with additional jail time for allegedly duping an investor into funding a fake documentary about Raniere’s sex-trafficking, pyramid-scheming cult. James David Williams had an additional 18 months tacked onto his jail sentence for the alleged scheme, the Times Union reports. Williams had been incarcerated with Raniere for a few months throughout 2018 at The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Times Union reports that the victim of Williams' fake project is an “ardent supporter” of Raniere who wired half a million dollars to the fraudulent filmmaker, thinking Williams was going to document the cult on the big screen. Ironically, it was this exact scam that landed Williams behind bars in the first place. In 2017, Williams pleaded guilty to, among other things, money laundering and wire fraud for luring investors into footing a $12 million bill for a film project that never materialized.